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Profile Manager — Create, remove or switch Waterfox profiles

Profiles keep your Waterfox data separate (bookmarks, passwords, settings, and extensions). Use the Profile Manager to create, rename, remove, or switch profiles.

About profiles

Each profile has its own data and settings. Multiple profiles let you separate work and personal browsing or test changes safely.
Waterfox uses a dedicated profile per installation. Switching channels or downgrading creates or requires a different profile to protect your data.

Open the Profile Manager

Option A — From about:profiles

Type about:profiles in the address bar and press Enter. The About Profiles page opens.
Click Create a New Profile to add one. Use the Launch profile in new browser button to open another profile.

Option B — Command line (Waterfox closed)

Windows: Press Windows+R, type waterfox.exe -P and press Enter.
macOS: Quit Waterfox, open Terminal, run /Applications/Waterfox.app/Contents/MacOS/waterfox -P.
Linux: Quit Waterfox, run waterfox -P from a terminal.

Create a profile

Open about:profiles and click Create a New Profile.
Enter a name and finish the wizard.
Click Launch profile in new browser to start using it.

Rename or remove a profile

Open about:profiles.
Use Rename to change the profile name.
Use Remove to delete a profile. Deleting files removes the profile’s data permanently; keep files if you just want to hide it from the list.

Switch profiles

From about:profiles, click Launch profile in new browser next to the profile you want to use.
You can run multiple profiles at the same time; each opens in its own window set.

Troubleshooting

Waterfox started with default data
- You may be in a new profile. Open about:profiles and switch back, or restore data from a backup.
Downgraded Waterfox and lost data
- Waterfox uses downgrade protection. See What happens to my profile if I downgrade.